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Graham and Harris headed to October runoff in Montgomery City Council District 4 race

The Montgomery City Council's District 4 race is, not surprisingly, headed to a runoff after Tuesday's competition between seven candidates.

Western Montgomery residents have to wait more than a month before they can decide between Audrey Graham and Quartez "Dan" Harris as their new City Council member on Oct. 9. Tuesday's race was a quiet race with fairly low turnout for a group of candidates seeking to bring a new energy to one of Montgomery's most disadvantaged areas.

One of the race's winners, Graham, said she had hoped to win the race outright, but was committed to continuing her neighborhood level canvassing strategy into October. There wasn't much celebrating on her end, she said late Tuesday night after the final votes were tallied.

Harris couldn't immediately be reached for comment about moving on to the runoff.

The race was sandwiched between several others this year, and voter weariness seemed to be apparent. About 1,400 voters showed up to the polls about 9.6 percent of registered voters.

The last runoff in District 4 was in 2015, when now-Sen. David Burkette faced off against William Boyd. Almost 2,000 voters turned out for that race, with about 3,400 in the earlier general.

At Hayneville Road Community Center, the Montgomery Advertiser saw few voters, less than five, come to the polls during an hour's span. A poll worker there said they topped 100 voters around 3:30 p.m. The final tally ended up being 166.

Graham, worried about fatigue, had a message for voters.

"Basically, don’t have voter fatigue," she said. "Know it is worth coming out again because we must have the best candidates represent us."

Janet May, executive director of the Montgomery County Democratic Conference, said previously that a runoff was expected in the crowded field. The influential local group met with candidates before the election, but did not endorse anyone.

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Janet May, right, executive director of the Montgomery County Democratic Commission, awaits election results during the Alabama Democratic Conference watch party in Montgomery on Tuesday, June 5, 2018.(Photo: Shannon Heupel/Advertiser)

Several candidates also said they expected a runoff. Now, with the October race set, May's group will likely endorse one of the two candidates.

The seat opened up after Burkette, a multiterm councilman, won Alabama's Senate District 26 in May. Alabama law forbids officials from holding two positions at once, which meant he automatically vacated the council seat the day after his election.

Council business has largely continued on his absence, though there have been short mentions about making decisions on an area without a council member, including a recent liquor license vote.

Ja'Mel Brown, one of Tuesday's candidates that failed to advance to the runoff, spoke repeatedly at the last City Council meeting saying that votes should be withheld until a representative is elected in District 4, a notion that sitting councilmen said was impossible.